The F1 Team of the Ocean

It’s been a while since I last blogged, but I’ve been saving up a good one for you as follow-up to my first Verney Yachts post.   This is the first in a three part mini-series of blogging about Verney Yachts (@V39Albatross), so stay tuned for the next three Tuesdays to find out more!

At the 2010 SCC – Tim Clarke of Verney presented an excellent overview of the preliminary design of the wing-sail for the V-39 Albatross. He mentioned that the Verney team is conducting all of the design and the prototype work virtually using Abaqus and other CAE tools, with no plans to build a physical prototype – “Numerical simulation is the only realistic method to test the boat” It’s the wing-sail that I’ll talk about in today’s post.

This method is a similar one to the F1 team Virgin Racing who designed this year’s car 100 percent using numerical methods, including CFD and FEA.

The wing-sail is a unique device designed to do two things; propel the boat forwards, as well as lifting it out of the water so it flies in ground effect just above the surface. This is similar to an Ekronoplan in concept just without an engine.

A wing-sail is made up of an inner and outer plank. Each plank can rotate about its longitudinal axis into the local air-stream. The amount of lift generated by each plank can be controlled by the pilot. This approach to the control of each wing-sail has massively helped the team keep weight to a minimum – the low weight of the boat is essential to its success.

That’s all for this week, tune in again next week to hear about Verney becoming part of the Dassault Systèmes Passion for Innovation programme, and more on the team as they strive towards the record attempt.

Until next week,

Tom

@tombianchi